Background: Robertson County (Tenn.) Detention Facility (Google Maps). Inset: Shelby Bradshaw (Robertson County Sheriff’s Office).
A mom in Tennessee is behind bars after allegedly leaving her 2-year-old daughter alone at home for more than nine hours.
Shelby Bradshaw, aged 33, faces charges of child abuse and neglect, as per the records from the Robertson County Sheriff’s Office. WKRN, a local ABC affiliate, reported that on Thursday morning, Bradshaw returned to the apartment complex where she resides with her child in Greenbrier, a city situated a little over 20 miles north of Nashville, only to discover police officers awaiting her presence.
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Authorities were reportedly summoned to the apartment complex by a maintenance team, who came across the toddler left alone in the apartment during a routine inspection of the unit. The police then began a search throughout the complex to locate the child’s mother.
Greenbriar Police Office Curt Allen told WKRN that he was the first officer on the scene and discovered the child in her crib.
“As I approached the bed, the little girl stood up in the crib and raised her arms as if wanting to be picked up, so I did, holding her until a relative arrived — approximately 25 to 30 minutes after the call was made,” Allen recounted to the station. He described the incident as distressing.
“You could tell [the child] was trying to figure out what was going on,” he said. “She was scared [and] nervous — and once we got in there and picked her up, she seemed fine that we were there and maybe just happy that someone was in the house with her at that point.”
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When Bradshaw arrived — allegedly more than nine hours after leaving the child alone — police were there to greet her. Body camera footage shows officers confronting Bradshaw, who appeared confused as to why police were there.
She allegedly told authorities that she had driven about 25 minutes away to see a man. She reportedly said that her daughter usually sleeps through the night and she expected to be there when the girl woke up.
“She made statements that she is a full-time mother and needed a break and that she had tried to rely on others the night before, but wasn’t able to find anybody,” Detective Joseph Chelini with the Greenbrier Police Department said, according to WKRN.
Records show that Bradshaw is in jail on a $25,000 bond.
The child is staying with relatives and the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services is investigating, WKRN reported.
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